Ohio State history

Success story vs. 100-win coaches

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoDispatch file photoThe Buckeyes kept Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz stuck on 100 career wins the last time the teams played, with Ohio State prevailing 20-17 in Iowa City. Ferentz now has 116 wins.

The bigger they are the harder they fall, but not always the harder they are to knock down.

Ohio State is 23-6 since 2003 against coaches who had at least 100 career wins when they played the Buckeyes. Included in that record is a 14-0 streak from Oct. 15, 2005 to Oct. 25, 2008.

So Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has recent history against him when the Hawkeyes visit Ohio Stadium today. Ferentz has 116 career wins (104 at Iowa), but Ohio State has a way of toppling some of the more established and winningest coaches.

Ferentz can take some solace in knowing the Buckeyes lost to the last 100-plus win coach they faced. Penn State, led by Joe Paterno, defeated Ohio State 20-14 in 2011.

On the other hand, Ferentz had exactly 100 wins the last time Iowa played Ohio State, in 2010, and remained stuck on that number when the Buckeyes won 20-17 in Iowa City.

Today’s game is the first in the Horseshoe since 2010 featuring two coaches with at least 100 wins. Ohio State’s Urban Meyer has 122 victories. On Nov. 27, 2010, Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes defeated a Michigan team coached by Rich Rodriguez, 37-7.

Players aren’t the only ones to get amped for the biggest games. Coaches also get extra motivated to match wits against their most successful peers.

“It’s always a challenge playing against the best coaches out there, and you’ve got to be able to take on that challenge,” said Earle Bruce, who won more than 100 games and faced other 100-plus-game winners such as Bo Schembechler (Michigan), Hayden Fry (Iowa) LaVell Edwards (Brigham Young) and Paterno.

“In those kinds of games, you want to put your best foot forward,” said Bruce, who was 5-4 vs. Schembechler, 3-2 vs. Fry, 1-0 vs. Edwards and 0-1 vs. Paterno when those coaches owned a minimum of 100 wins.

Fry, who joined the Hawkeyes the same year (1979) that Bruce took over at Ohio State, recalled being the underdog whenever he played the Buckeyes. But such was not the case. Twice in four meetings the Hawkeyes were the higher-ranked team, including 1985 when No. 1 Iowa lost to No. 8 OSU 22-13 in Columbus.

“I always thought it was a psychological advantage to be the underdog, because everyone knows the great teams are supposed to win, and by a big margin,” Fry said. “Not only does the underdog have an advantage in motivating players to play above what they normally have to, but psychologically Ohio State knows it’s better than Iowa and doesn’t have to prepare as hard.”

Fry stressed that even when given little chance to pull an upset, “I never entered a game in my life that I didn’t think we could win.”

Fry didn’t reserve psychological tactics for his players. He would try to get inside the heads of the best coaches, too.

“I had more fun with Bo Schembechler than anyone,” he said. “I’d change my centers with my guards in pregame warm-up and we’d be bouncing balls off guys’ heads and snapping them on the ground.”